Yes, it's a shameless piece of marketing hype. But if GoPro, Monster and Red Bull have taught us anything, it's that there's some really cool things that only get done as a result of shameless marketing hype.
And I'd class this Range Rover video among them. It's a lovely bit of filmmaking built around a crazy and death-defying stunt: driving a car up the 999 steps of Heaven's Gate. No, not the comet-worshipping California death cult of the 90's, we're talking about a stunning tourist attraction in Hunan, China. One of the world's most spectacular locations.
The stairway to Heaven's Gate is the crown jewel of an absolutely stunning piece of landscape around Tianmen Mountain. You can get up there on the world's longest cable car ride, which takes over 30 minutes and spans more than 7 kilometres (4.35 miles).
But the fun way to do it is to drive your plug-in hybrid Range Rover up the 99 bends, a road that winds up the mountain so tightly and so precariously that bus passengers frequently scream like they're riding a rollercoaster.
And once you get to the top, you can spend half an hour destroying your quads climbing the viciously steep, 45-degree staircase that leads up to the famous hole in the rock they call Heaven's Gate ... or, you can drive your car straight up the steps.
The second option is only for complete maniacs, and thus the reason this video's worth a watch. Panasonic Jaguar Racing's Ho-Pin Tung took a standard Range Rover Sport P400e plug-in hybrid and made the climb.
Just watch the video, it's great:
Source: Land Rover UK
